REMEMBERING JASON WREN
Mourners gather at fraternity
Several hundred students and family friends gather in front of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house Thursday night. The fraternity held a memorial service for Jason Wren, Littleton, Colo. freshman, who was found dead in his bedroom Sunday afternoon.
Ryan McGeeney/KANSAN
Campus, community join to celebrate life of student who died
Jay Wren, father of former University student Jason Wren, speaks to those gathered for Thursday's memorial service for his son. He urged members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, the fraternity Jason was a member of, to make their alcohol-free in JasoN's honor.
BY KEVIN HARDY AND ADAM SAMSON
khardy@kansan.com
asamson@kansan.com
As the sun set, the bells from the Campanile rang and the flag of Sigma Alpha Epsilon flew at half-staff.
Several hundred people gathered on the lawn of SAF, 1301 West Campus Road, in nearfreezing temperatures Thursday evening to commemorate the life of Jason Wren, who died in the house Sunday.
After the ceremony began with a prayer and a moment of silence, members of SAE shared memories of Jason Wren, who was a 19-year-old freshman.
Patrick Stacy, vice president of SAE, said he had known Jason Wren for about a month. He said the two became instant friends when Wren moved into the house. Stacy said he hoped some positive results would come from Wren's death
"We must continue to look after our friends while they are intoxicated," Stacy said. "We must be our brother's keepers — if not, this death will have been in vain."
Mark Giuliani, an SAE member, said Jason Wren had the ability to become best friends with everyone he met
Giuliani said before Jason Wren went to bed on Saturday night he was "smiling and giving out high fives like it was his job"
Jason's father asked the frater-
tribute, Jay Wren read an e-mail he had received from a former member of the KU Greek community, and another from a friend of Jason's in Colorado.
"I can't tell you what a shock it was for me, as I'm sure it was for all of you."
Jay Wren, the father of Jason, introduced Jason's mother, older sister and girlfriend. Jay Wren said Jason's younger sister "couldn't bring herself to be here."
"I can't tell you what a shock it was for me, as I'm sure it was for all of you," Jav Wren said.
Jay Wren thanked members of the fraternity and the University for their support. During his
JAY WREN
Father of Jason Wren
nity again to make SAE a dry house in honor of his son.
"Please don't raise a glass to my son," Jay Wren said. "I want you to instead, in honor of Jason, to say 'In honor of Jason Wren. I put my drink down.'" Jay
Wren said.
Many students from the greek community attended the service.
Dane Wooldridge, St. Louis sophomore, said he and other members of Delta Chi attended the ceremony to show their support.
Wooldridge said it was "definitely reasonable" for Jay Wren to ask SAE to become a dry house.
"I think when something to
this extent happens, everyone does consider it,"Wooldridge said.
The KU Lacrosse club also attended the memorial service and donned their team jerseys in honor of Jason Wren, who was a member of the club.
Kevin Munch, Denver sophomore and lacrosse club member, said Jason Wren was well loved by his teammates.
Munch said alcohol was always an issue at the University.
"But when something like this happens, it makes it more of a reality," Munch said.
Students who did not know Jason Wren were also present for the ceremony.
Katie Schaetzel, Lawrence sophomore, said she thought Jason Wren's death affected the student body at large, not just the Greek community.
"It's sad it had to hit so close to home." Schaelet said.
Schaetzel said there was a widespread problem of drinking on campus, and the blame
couldn't be placed solely on SAE or the Greek community.
"It happens in every fraternity and every sorority and residence hall." Schaetzel said.
Schaetzel also said she thought someone from the University should have spoken at the service.
"I don't know what our leaders of KU have been doing." Schaetzel said. "Maybe people are scared or maybe it's embarrassing for KU nationally"
Wren's funeral is scheduled for Monday in Littleton, Colo.
- Edited by Sam Speer
REGENTS
Proposal could freeze next year's tuition costs
BY BRIANNE PFANNENSTIEL
bpfannenstiel@kansan.com
The Kansas Board of Regents voted Thursday to approve a proposal that, if approved by the state legislature, would put a freeze on tuition costs for in-state students for the next academic school year. The move could jeopardize the University's four-year tuition compact. The compact guarantees incoming freshman a fixed tuition cost for four years.
Regent Donna Shank, chairwoman for the Kansas Board of Regents said in a press release that this was a way for the board and legislature to provide "meaningful financial relief to Kansans."
Lynn Bretz, director of communications, said the University would not be able to financially sustain the four-year compact if a tuition increase was frozen at zero percent. She said a one-year tuition freeze essentially amounted to a four-year tuition freeze because of the compact.
However, she said that the University had seen overwhelming support for the compact from students and families and that the University had every intention of finding a way to continue it.
"They asked us to be working on some creative proposals to sustain the compact and maintain the affordability and predictability of college tuition even during these challenging budget times," Bretz said.
The Regents plan would also allocate $9.6 million in federal stimulus funds to the state's public higher education institutions in fiscal year 2009. The funds would be used for deferred maintenance projects if the state was able to receive funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
In fiscal year 2010, this same proposal would allocate $40 million toward higher education for deferred maintenance and tuition assistance if funds are available from the ARRA and if budget cuts do not exceed 7 percent.
- Edited by Liz Schubauer
Lucas Lux, Topeka senior, asks the panel a question Wednesday afternoon at Pizza and Politics held in the Adams Alumni Center. Lux's question was about the coal power plants and how they expected the rule of law would have looked if followed. Pizza and Politics is a monthly event put on by the Dole Institute of Politics.
Jenny Terrell/KANSAN
POLITICS
Bloggers discuss strengths of their medium
On 'Wednesday, March 11. Kansas-based political bloggers gathered at the Adams Alumni Center to discuss what it takes to be a successful blogger, and why more young people are turning to the Web for coverage.
In the expanding age of technology, more students are turning to blogs-for coverage of politics instead of traditional media.
BY BETSY CUTCLIFF
bcutcliff@kansan.com
Chelsea Mertz, Topeka junior, said speed of access was a factor in the importance of political bloggers.
"It's a hyper-political time right now," Mertz said, "and blogs have constant updates."
Political bloggers in Kansas cover a wide range of topics in the national arena and in smaller communities. They update their blogs constantly, and this gives impatient young adults faster access to what might take news organizations
24 hours to publish or broadcast, Mertz said.
Consistently updating content was one aspect Ben Hodge, a blogger for Kansasprogress.com, said was necessary but frustrating at times. He said that in order to be successful, bloggers had to push themselves to provide readers with opinions about new events as quickly as possible.
One reason Jon Simon, Lenexa senior, said that blogs were updated faster was because of the informal-
ity of the writing. In newsrooms, a story goes through editing processes, which Jon said could delay them from getting information out as soon as possible. Blogging can be done live.
index
"You can think something and then blog about it 30 seconds later," Simon said.
Another difference between political blogs and mainstream
SEE BLOGS ON PAGE 4A
Classifieds. ... 8A Opinion...11A
Crossword. ... 10A Sports...12A
Horoscopes. ... 10A Sudoku...10A
All contents, unless stated otherwise; © 2009 The University Daily Kansan
COURT GIVES IRAQI JOURNALIST 3 YEARS
The writer who threw a shoe at former president Bush was sentenced in an Iraqi court yesterday. INTERNATIONAL 4A
weather
SATURDAY
TODAY
50 24
54 30 Partly cloudy
Partly cloudy
1.
SUNDAY
回
61 38 Partly cloudy
11
weather.com